Hospital garment



18, 1964 E. A. BUSER 3,144,661

HOSPITAL GARMENT I Filed Aug. 10, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR EL/ZABETH A. buss/a ATTORNEY6 Aug. 18, 1964 Filed Aug. 10, 1960 E. A. BUSER3,144,661

HOSPITAL GARMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ELIZABETH A. 5086/? ATTORNEYSUnited States Patent This invention relates to hospital garments andmore particularly to an improved hospital garment which is especiallyadapted for use by patients undergoing treatment in oxygen tents.

The broad object of the present invention is to provide an improvedgarment for maintaining a patient warm and comfortable in the chilledatmosphere of an oxygen tent.

More particularly it is an object of the invention to provide animproved one piece hospital garment for use by patients in oxygen tentsand which effectively protects the entire upper trunk of the patientsbody including his head, neck, chest and arms.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide a hospital garmentof the foregoing'nature which is reversible and may be readily appliedto and removed from a patient by hospital aides with a minimum ofmovement of or on the part of the patient.

Other objects and their attendant advantages will become apparent as thefollowing detailed description is read in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a typical oxygen tent and relatedequipment asconventionally used in hospitals and showing a patientwearing the garment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the garment of the invention showing it in itsfully open position;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the garment of the invention showing it in itspartially folded position; and

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the garment showing it in its completely foldedposition.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to FIG. 1, a patient 18is illustrated lying in a hospital bed 12 which has attached thereto atypical oxygen tent 14 which partially covers the patient as shown. Thetent 14 is supplied with oxygen from a tank 16 which is connected to thetent by well known valve means generally indicated by the numeral 18.The valve means meters the fioW of oxygen into the tent at apredetermined rate and as the oxygen escapes into the tent it expandsand creates a natural refrigerating effect which is inherent in thesudden expansion of substantially all compressed gases. Because of thisrefrigerating effect the atmosphere within the tent is normally muchcooler than the temperature of the surrounding room and because a singlespark, which might occur by static electricity from a wool blanket,would cause instantaneous combustion of burnable material within thetent, the patient is normally provided with only cotton blankets forprotecting his body against the cold. The garments worn by a patient inan oxygen tent have usually comprised the conventional light cottonhospital gown and a separate cap-like head covering similar to a babysbonnet which atfords some protection to the head against the cold thoughthe rest of the patients body must remain substantially immobilizedbeneath the blankets in order to keep warm. Where a patient must remainin an oxygen tent over a long period of time, his inability to movewithout extreme discomfort from the cold is demoralizing and thisfrequently contributes to the retardation of a patients recovery.

The present invention is particularly designed to overcome the attendantdisadvantages and discomforts of the presently used means for protectinga patient against the cold atmosphere in oxygen tents, and accomplishesthis by the provision of a unitary garment which is readily 3,144,661Patented. Aug. 18, 1964 applied to a patient while at the same timeaffording complete coverage of all parts of the patients body in theoxygen tent including his head, neck, arms and upper torso.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the garment of the invention comprises aunitary body of non-sparking cloth material, such as heavy cottonflannel or the like, made up of three interconnected substantiallycongruent panels 20, 22, 24. The respective side panels 20, 24 of thegarment have free, suitably hemmed outer side edgelines 26, 28 and haveinner edgelines which are connected by respective common seams 29, 30 tothe opposed side edges of the central panel 22, the panels being soarranged that the central panel affords a single piece adapted to covera patients back, and the side panels, when folded over the centralpanel, afford two overlapping pieces for covering the patients chest.

Each of the side edges of each of the three panels has adjacent itsupper end a concave, arcuate seam part which, when the garment is in itsfolded and tied position of FIG. 4, define arm hole lines which arenumbered respectively from left to right in FIGS. 2, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40and 42. The concave seam parts 34, 36 and 38, 40 at the upper ends ofinner seams 29, 30 form the inner ends of elongated sleeves 43, 44 andjoined to the upper ends of all of the arcuate seam parts aresubstantially straight inwardly and upwardly sloping seam parts 45, 46,48 and 50 each of which defines a shoulder line of the garment. Theupper edges 52, 54, 56 of the respective panels define necklines of thegarment when in its folded position of use and attached to said upperedges is the lower edge of a hood member 58 which extends across theentire upper edge 54 of the central panel to approximately midway of theupper edges 52, 56 of the respective side panels 28, 24. Each of thethree panels has a respective substantially straight bottom edgeline6t), 62, 64 which is spaced from each upper panel edge a distanceslightly greater than the length of the torso of an average person sothat the entire upper part of the body confined within the usual oxygentent is Well covered by the garment when worn in its position of use.

In order to retain the garment on a patient, each of the outer free sideedges 26, 28 of the respective side panels 20, 24 is provided with apair of vertically spaced ties 66, 68, the upper tie of each pair beingat the junction of the respective arm seam parts 32, 42 with their sideseam parts 26, 28 and the lower tie of each pair being about midway ofthe side seams. In like manner, the left hand central seam 29 betweenpanels 20 and 22 is provided with a pair of ties 70 having the samecorresponding position as the respective ties 66, 68 and on the oppositeside of the garment there are provided a pair of ties 72 which are sewedto the right hand central seam 30 between panels 22, 24 in the samecorresponding position as the ties previously mentioned. Additionally,each of the respective shoulder seams 45, 46, 48, 50 is provided with apair of ties respectively numbered 74, 76, 78, 80, the lower tie of eachpair being attached to the garment immediately above the concave armparts and the upper tie of each pair being attached to the garment atthe juncture of each shoulder seam with respective ends of the neckseams 52, 54, 56, it being observed that the ties 78 on the right handinner shoulder seam 48 are on the same side of the garment as the ties72, that is to say, on the side opposite that on which the ties 78, 76,appear.

In applying the garment of the invention to a normally prone patient,the latters left arm would desirably be first inserted into the sleeve44, then the left hand panel 20 and central panel 22 would be bunchedalong the patients left side and thereafter the right hand panel 24 inFIG. 2 would be folded over the patients chest. The

patient would then be rolled onto his left side sufficiently so that theleft and rear panels could be pulled out sideways on the bed under thepatient and he would then roll onto his back and insert his right arminto the sleeve 44. The ties 68, 80 on the right hand panel 24 are thentied, preferably by bow knots, to the ties 70, 76 on the inner left seam29 as illustrated in FIG. 3. Thereafter the left hand panel 20, isfolded over the previously folded and tied right panel 24 and the ties66, 74 of the left panel are tied to the ties 72, 78 along the oppositeside of the inner right hand seam 30 as illustrated in FIG. 4.

It will be noted that with the lower edge of the hood part 58 extendingapproximately half way along the upper edges 52, 56 of the side panelsthat when the latter are folded over, as above described, the lower sideparts of the hood are folded forwardly from a substantially planardisposition when the garment is in the fully opened position of FIG. 2into a true hood capable of snugly encompassing the wearers head to apoint well forward of his ears and the hood part 58 is provided with adraw string 84 capable of being tied beneath the patients chin.

One of the important features of the invention resides in itsreversibility; that is to say, the sleeves 43, 44 can be positionedeither as shown in FIG. 3 or they can be turned inside out and thedisposition of the parts of the garment will be identical relative toeach other except that the ties 72, 78 will appear in the same positionas the ties 70, 76 and the latter will be on the outer side of thegarment. Thus a hospital aide, before applying the garment to a patient,need only ascertain that both sleeves are on the same side of thegarment and need not waste time with possible extra discomfort to thepatient, in adjusting the sleeves to a particular side.

If desired, extra sets of ties can be placed on both sides of thegarment along the inner seams 29, 30 thus eliminating any necessity forthe panels being folded over in a particular order. As a practicalmatter, however, it has been found that the number and position of theties illustrated are entirely sufficient and additional ties might undersome circumstances cause discomfort to a patient.

It should be particularly noted that the panels of the garment extendfully from the shoulder line to a line below the hips of the wearer withthe latter being afiorded at least two plys of material over his chestarea. The hood and sleeves provide snug head and arm coverings so thatthe patient, while remaining comfortably Warm, is also able to move hisarms outside of the covers for reading and the like without sufferingfrom the chilled atmosphere as occurs when the patient wears only theusual hospital garment and depends solely on the cotton blankets forwarmth.

The garment of the present invention is now being employed in a hospitalfor patients in oxygen tents and has proved entirely satisfactory inevery way and fulfills a need which has not heretofore been available inthe hospital supply trade.

It will be apparent that the garment of the invention is susceptible ofvarious modifications and changes without however departing from thescope and spirit of the appended claims;

What is claimed is:

1. A hospital garment for use in oxygen tents comprising a central backpanel and two side panels adapted to be folded over a patients chest inoverlapping relationship, all of said panels having substantially thesame size and shape including a neckline and opposed shoulder, arm holedefining, and side edge lines and a bottom edge line, said panels havinga length sufiicient to extend from the neck to a line below the hips ofan average sized person and a width to extend fully from side to side ofan average sized person, the inner side edges and shoulder lines of saidside panels being joined by common seams to the corresponding lines ofsaid back panel, a pair of sleeves joined to the armhole defining linesbetween said common side and shoulder line seam, a hood part having ahead-covering portion and a lower edge line joined by a common seam tothe neck line of said central panel, said lower edge line and saidcommon seam extending from said central panel in opposite directionspartly along the neck lines of said side panels, a plurality of tiesalong each outer side edge and shoulder line of said side panels, atleast some of said ties on one of said side panels being in the samecorresponding position as at least some of the ties on the other of saidside panels, a plurality of ties on one side of said garment along oneof said pair of common side edge and shoulder line seams, at least someof said ties corresponding in position to at least some of the firstmentioned ties along said outer side edge and shoulder lines, and aplurality of ties along the other of said pair of common side edge andshoulder line seams on the side of said garment opposite the lastmentioned ties, at least some of said ties along said last mentionedseam corresponding in position to at least some of said first mentionedties.

2. The garment of claim 1 wherein there is at least one tie disposed ateach end of each of said armhole defining lines.

3. The garment of claim 2 wherein there is at least one tie on each ofsaid side edge lines and at least one tie at the inner end of each ofsaid shoulder lines.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,849,578 Jackson Mar. 15, 1932 2,374,643 Boettcher May 1, 19452,425,402 Sieloff Aug. 12, 1947 2,807,022 Bonanni Sept. 24, 1957 FOREIGNPATENTS 526,348 Belgium Feb. 27, 1954

1. A HOSPITAL GARMENT FOR USE IN OXYGEN TENTS COMPRISING A CENTRAL BACKPANEL AND TWO SIDE PANELS ADAPTED TO BE FOLDED OVER A PATIENT''S CHESTIN OVERLAPPING RELATIONSHIP, ALL OF SAID PANELS HAVING SUBSTANTIALLY THESAME SIZE AND SHAPE INCLUDING A NECKLINE AND OPPOSED SHOULDER, ARM HOLEDEFINING, AND SIDE EDGE LINES AND A BOTTOM EDGE LINE, SAID PANELS HAVINGA LENGTH SUFFICIENT TO EXTEND FROM THE NECK TO A LINE BELOW THE HIPS OFAN AVERAGE SIZED PERSON AND A WIDTH TO EXTEND FULLY FROM SIDE TO SIDE OFAN AVERAGE SIZED PERSON, THE INNER SIDE EDGES AND SHOULDER LINES OF SAIDSIDE PANELS BEING JOINED BY COMMON SEAMS TO THE CORRESPONDING LINES OFSAID BACK PANEL, A PAIR OF SLEEVES JOINED TO THE ARMHOLE DEFINING LINESBETWEEN SAID COMMON SIDE AND SHOULDER LINE SEAM, A HOOD PART HAVING AHEAD-COVERING PORTION AND A LOWER EDGE LINE JOINED BY A COMMON SEAM TOTHE NECK LINE OF SAID CENTRAL PANEL, SAID LOWER EDGE LINE AND SAIDCOMMON SEAM EXTENDING FROM SAID CENTRAL PANEL IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONSPARTLY ALONG THE NECK LINES OF SAID SIDE PANELS, A PLURALITY OF TIESALONG EACH OUTER SIDE EDGE AND SHOULDER LINE OF SAID SIDE PANELS, ATLEAST SOME OF SAID TIES ON ONE OF SAID SIDE PANELS BEING IN THE SAMECORRESPONDING POSITION AS AT LEAST SOME OF THE TIES ON THE OTHER OF SAIDSIDE PANELS, A PLURALITY OF TIES ON ONE SIDE OF SAID GARMENT ALONG ONEOF SAID PAIR OF COMMON SIDE EDGE AND SHOULDER LINE SEAMS, AT LEAST SOMEOF SAID TIES CORRESPONDING IN POSITION TO AT LEAST SOME OF THE FIRSTMENTIONED TIES ALONG SAID OUTER SIDE EDGE AND SHOULDER LINES, AND APLURALITY OF TIES ALONG THE OTHER OF SAID PAIR OF COMMON SIDE EDGE ANDSHOULDER LINE SEAMS ON THE SIDE OF SAID GARMENT OPPOSITE THE LASTMENTIONED TIES, AT LEAST SOME OF SAID TIES ALONG SAID LAST MENTIONEDSEAM CORRESPONDING IN POSITION TO AT LEAST SOME OF SAID FIRST MENTIONEDTIES.